Fox’s ‘X Factor’ and NBC’s ‘The Voice’ Go Head-to-Head and Here’s What Happened: ‘The X-Factor’ Season Debut Was Down Significantly Over Last Year. When the Shows Went Head-to-Head, ‘The Voice’ Beat ‘The X Factor.’ But Fox Won the Night in Viewers 18-49

The first head-to-head showdown between Fox’s “The X Factor” and NBC’s “The Voice” took place Wednesday night, with both shows seemingly coming out on the short end.

TVbytheNumbers.com reports that the two-hour premiere of “The X Factor” scored a 3.3 average rating in Nielsen overnights in the key 18-49 demo — later adjusted to a 3.4 with additional time zone figures. The number is down significantly from the 4.4 the premiere delivered a year ago.

The first hour of “X Factor” went up against NBC’s one-hour installment of “The Voice,” and “X Factor” fell short there too. Hour one of the show delivered a 2.7 in viewers 18-49, to a 3.3 for “The Voice.” But the NBC’s show’s number was off seven-tenths of a ratings point from the 4.0 average delivered by Tuesday’s installment of the show.

"Among younger demos, ‘The X Factor’ won the night outright, beating the next highest-rated show by +17% in Teens," reports RBR-TVBR.

NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” scored a 2.9 in the 18-49 demo — a season high for a Wednesday installment. The network’s “Guys With Kids” premiered at 10 p.m. with a 2.2.

ABC aired all reruns, while CBS put up only a fresh episode of Big Brother (2.0 average rating in 18-49) along with a batch of repeats, leaving Fox and NBC to fight it out.

Fox ended up No. 1 for the night with a 3.3 average rating for prime time in viewers 18-49, followed by NBC (2.7 average), Univision (1.5), CBS (1.5) and ABC. NBC turned the table in total viewers with 8.9 million to 8.4 million for Fox, followed by CBS with 6.1 million, Univision with 3.7 million and ABC with 3.0 million.